2017 Honda Civic Hatchback Debut – New York Press Briefing Remarks

Jeff Conrad, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Honda Division

3/22/2016 9:07:00 PM

Jeff Conrad:

Good afternoon and thanks to everyone joining us here today, in person or via livestream.

It was roughly a year ago that we set off on our epic 10th-generation Civic launch, right here in New York with the debut of the seriously sporty and seriously green Civic Coupe Concept.

We promised that this would be the sportiest, most sophisticated and most ambitious Civic lineup in our best-selling model's 44-year history.

And since then, we've revealed more of our Civic story, how our designers and engineers set their sights not on our mainstream competitors but on compact-class sports sedans from Europe.

Their goal, to create one truly world-class platform for all 10th-generation Civic models.

This new Civic platform is simply a cut above offering a new level of sporty and refined ride and handling a more spacious and premium-quality cabin class-leading safety and advanced new powertrains.

This includes our first-ever turbocharged engine for our U.S.-model Civic.

We launched our first epic new Civic, the 2016 Civic Sedan, last fall.

And we were honored to have Civic named the 2016 North American Car of the Year just two months ago.

More importantly, our customers have truly embraced this new Civic … with sales up an amazing 43 percent this year.

And just last week, we upped the ante on Civic sportiness and style with the launch of the all-new 2016 Civic Coupe.

Today, we're ready to share the next chapter in our Civic story.

For years, many Honda and Civic enthusiasts have looked longingly across the Atlantic to Civic models like a hatchback, and Type R that until now have been forbidden fruit.

That begins to change right now.

Because, today, we have another first for Civic in North America a 5-door hatch model.

Here, straight from its global reveal at the Geneva auto show and in its first appearance on American soil, welcome the all-new 2017 Honda Civic Hatchback Prototype!!

This new Civic Hatch continues the steady progression of new Civic models that are advancing the stylish and fun-to-drive performance of Civic.

This new Civic Hatchback takes all the goodness of the new, tenth-generation Civic platform and wraps it in emotional, Euro-inspired styling together with the added cargo and people-hauling flexibility of its five-door design.

The Civic Hatch will feature a sporty and fuel-efficient engine our 1.5-liter, 174-horsepower Turbo powerplant mated to either a sporty CVT or a 6-speed manual transmission.

And experts have been quick to note how this amazing new powertrain is delivering fun-to-drive performance and fuel economy like nothing in its class with an EPA highway rating of 42 mpg and a zero-to-60 time that matches the previous-gen Civic Si!

Inside, the new Hatchback will benefit from all the stunning upgrades we've made to the Civic cabin in terms of high-quality materials, added legroom, and leading edge technologies.

This includes our Display Audio touchscreen with Android Auto and Apple CarPlay compatibility.

I have one more piece of news that all Civic enthusiasts will be thrilled to hear and that's our announcement today that ALL of our turbocharged Civic models … Coupe, Sedan and Hatch will be available with a slick-shifting 6-speed manual starting this fall!

We said this would be our sportiest Civic ever and we meant it!

Next year, we'll be rounding out the lineup with the launch of high-performance Si variants and some more goodness from across the pond a radical new Civic Type-R based on this hatch body style.

So, our Civic story is far from complete. And we will be sharing all of the details on this new Civic Hatch as we get closer to its fall launch.